Martin Truex Jr was hit with a restart violation at Kansas Speedway
It didn’t effect Truex as he still drove back through the field to take the win. However, it was a unique form of restart violation. It wasn’t for getting on the gas too early, it was for changing lanes, kinda.
Watch the video below.
Richard Buck warned drivers of changing lanes via the drivers meeting. Martin Truex Jr did that very thing. Though, he didn’t exactly change lanes, he simply used all of the road available.
In NASCAR’s eyes, it was a change of lanes.
“If the inside car dropped below the white line, it would force the outside line to change lanes,” NASCAR drivers approached NASCAR with that concern after the NXS race.
So, NASCAR listened to the drivers and warned drivers in the pre-race drivers meeting on Sunday. Still, that very thing happened. Martin Truex Jr went below the white line. Kevin Harvick followed him.
NASCAR explains…
“It was clearly communicated by Richard, to stay above the white line. It was really the first row of drivers that set that line. Anyone who’s following them was going to be put in a tough position because they had to stay in line,” Steve O’Donnell states to Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“That was why the penalty was called on the #78 and not the drivers that dropped below, behind the #78. The leader established, what we determined to be an illegal line. The rows behind were forced to follow. That was the determination there.”
“One the the things we didn’t want to do was get in a position where we would penalize an entire line of drivers once that line was established.”
Denny Hamlin, the 3rd car in line kinda followed Truex and Harvick. He placed most of his car below the white line. Then, he must have remembered the NASCAR warning. He took a slight right hander, driving up the banking and back above the line at the start-finish.
The first driver to go below the white line gets the penalty. That’s why Martin Truex Jr was issued a NASCAR penalty while Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin did not. If Martin Truex Jr would have stayed above the white line on the restart and Kevin Harvick went below the white line, then Harvick would have been the car penalized.
Related: Matt Kenseth disqualified at Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway restart violation
NACSAR explains Martin Truex Jr restart violation
Links
Martin Truex Jr | Kansas Speedway | Sirius XM NASCAR Radio | NASCAR
